It Takes Two

It’s important to understand that temptation isn’t sin. If your eyes fall upon a woman and in a split second you are tempted to lust but turn away, you haven‘t sinned. Jesus was tempted to sin, but didn’t. Not once.  And He is our example. We are to imitate Him, and the key to His victory over sin was that He feared God (see Hebrews 5:7). Do you fear God? If you are not sure, you will find the answer in what you do with lust. Spurgeon said,

“We cannot help the birds flying over our heads, but we may keep them from building their nests in our hair. Vain thoughts will knock at the door, but we must not open to them. Though sinful thoughts rise, they must not reign. He who turns a morsel over and over in his mouth does so because he likes the flavor, and he who meditates upon evil loves it and is ripe to commit it.”

It takes two to tango. Bathsheba needs your cooperation or there’s no tango. Notice that Scripture addresses where the dance starts—“Do not lust after her beauty in your heart.” It’s in the human heart that the spark starts the fire.  It is the eye that gives access to the heart and to your precious soul. Again, Jesus warned that it would be better to be blind than to let lust find its murderous way into your heart and take you to Hell (see Matthew 5:27-30). He said to pluck out your eye if it causes you to sin sexually, and these sobering words of warning give us insight into how wicked and serious this sin is in there eyes of God. 

To be continued...